To my followers

Dear fine people of WordPress and beyond,

Thank you for the time you have taken to stop by, like, and comment on my blog.  I appreciate it very much.  If you are new, please bare with the shameless promotion of my Examiner articles, as I am a new contributor to the site, and have not yet gotten my legs.

Also, in case you have noticed, a lot of my older posts here are missing their photos and have expired links.  This is due to the hosting website, which is no longer available.  I apologize for this, and have been working (slowly) to get the photos back up.  The computer that had the originals is also down, so I have to comb through my multiple social media sites to see if back-ups were saved. Please bare with me during this painstaking process, and thank you, in advance, for your patience.  If you are looking for something in particular, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me using the form in the sidebar.

To piggyback on the photos issue, I also must warn that I have incredibly bad luck with cameras.  If I have not posted in a while, it is probably to do a broken piece of equipment.

I am happy to have you aboard, and would love to hear from you!

Thanks again, and I look forward to helping you along your journey into the world of invertebrate hunting and keeping.  See you around!

Sidnata

A few old and new pics

Me and some of my past and present critters 🙂

Osiris (E, cyanognathos)

Nata (G. Rosea)  RIP

Nata

Mitzy (L.P.)

Zero (C. fasciatum)

Serj (A. chalcodes)

To My Fellow Keepers (UPDATE)

Hello again!  It’s been a long time, and if you are browsing my site for photos of beautiful tarantulas and hissing roaches, I am sad to say, you will be disappointed,  Everything I had was linked to a website that I have since let lapse.

Since relocating the zoo to California, my priorities have shifted and unfortunately, my luck with electronics extended to my laptop. The Toshiba  is now sitting idly by, awaiting the day it will come alive again.  I have since sold most of the critters except for Serj, my beautiful 3 1/2″ A. Chalcodes.  I had her sexed in February, and received the happiest news!  It’s all skirts and barbies for her! 🙂

Then, I decided that while getting her sexed, I would try my luck with an LP (Salmon Pink Birdeater) sling.  I bought Mitzy right then, and am awaiting the day  when I will discover whether it’s bloomers or boxers for the little 3/4″ beauty.  Both she and Serj were a 1/8″ handful in the beginning, but now they are both getting huge! I never thought that my little desert freebie would turn out to be a critter that will probably go to college with my son.  Mitzy is designated to be for sale, but not until another molt or 6….

What’s that?  You didn’t know I had a baby?  Well….yes, and he is a beautiful, bouncing boy, born July 22nd, 2012.

Serj came before he did, and in between, I was devastated by the loss of both Sid and Nata within a few weeks of each other.   They  now reside in my freezer and are awaiting preservation.  (Yes, I know, I know….a year and a half is a long time to live in a freezer…but please bare with me! I’ve been busy!)  My baby is now learning about T’s through Serj and Mitzy, and will one day understand the beginnings of Buggy Zoo. He will also learn the story of  how Sid and Nata started it all.  They are definitely missed.

So, here’s to a new chapter of “The Zoo” with Mitzy, and a very pretty Serj leading the way.  Perhaps the name of the blog will change to From the Desktop of Serj and Mitzy….Naaahhhh

I look forward to bringing you new photos, on a new laptop (thanks to my Oregon friend who understood my predicament).  Until my old one is up, you can still view many photos on my facebook pages, since sadly, the Toshiba holds all of the originals. (A great lesson in BACKING UP FILES.)

Also, I look forward to sharing my son’s journey around the zoo with all of you.  If I ever refer to “Moo”, you will know I am talking about him.

Thank you for reading 😀

Have a great day, week, month, and year.

More Pictures of the Zoo

Nataraja:

Me and Nata

Sava and I

The Elusive Tank

Ants on the Desk …… :| (Ugh!)

Last night, 2 Chilean Rose tarantulas had to be evacuated from their tanks in an effort to combat the swarm of ants that was invading their desk.  Although no one was hurt, both spiders remain confused, and rather pissed off that they were so rudely interrupted.

Siddhartha, the Pink Toed neighbor, refused to leave her dwelling, and was luckily unaffected by her neighbor’s plight.  I found an ant or 2 in her tank, but nothing else.  Stragglers probably, looking for more food.

All this came about when around 10:30 last night I noticed Nata acting strangely.  I normally do a check in the morning, and just before bed, so I tend to catch anything out of the ordinary pretty quickly.  Nata had been out of her burrow, sitting by her water dish.  Normally she does this if she is eating, but when I looked over at where her crickets  sit, I saw that one was dead and covered in ants, and another was sitting at the top of the cricket hide.

This is why I am always looking for extra tanks.  I needed to get Nata out fast, so I used the best thing I had: a live animal carrier from Petco for small animals.  I managed to get her to go back into her favorite burrow (a dibs container) and placed her and the burrow into the Petco carrier.

I had to remove everything from her tank, and dump out all the bedding.  (Note to self: buy EXTRA bedding.)  I took a wet (new, not used) sponge and wiped down the top and lid of the tank, and put fresh bedding in.

After I got her water dish back in, I made the decision to keep any crickets out for the night.  I repeated the process with Sarva, and all seems well.

For a temporary fix, I placed liquid dish soap around the 2 big tanks, and placed the unaffected spiderlings on top.  It looks like everything is ok this morning, but I will continue to monitor the tanks.

We live in a small apartment, so the desktop is the only place I have to keep them.

No other critters were affected by the ants. 😐

I am still tired, and need many more cups of coffee.

I love bugs, but they (INCLUDING ANTS) need to learn to stay outside unless pre-authorized to come in.

UGH.

Buggy Zoo Photos

Siddhartha<<<<<CLICK THERE

This is my invertebrate page from my website, Buggy Zoo.

Making Some Changes/Slings and Things

Sid is still not quite acting normal.  I checked for mites, possible leftover crickets (that have soured) and other outside influences that could be causing her odd behavior.

So, yesterday I spent some time adding and subtracting some things from her tank, along with removing the remains of her tattered web.  I added in a piece of driftwood that runs the length of the 10 gallon tank, (which thankfully is shaped well, to run from the bottom of the tank to the top, one side to the other at a slant) I have also placed another piece that runs the width of the tank directly under the upward part of the long driftwood…if that makes any sense.)

Sid is sitting by the shorter piece now, on the side of the tank, but has been all over the place.  I hope the pacing stops soon.  She has fresh water, new things to climb, and perfect humidity.  In a little while I will go to the market and try to feed her some crickets.

Nata on the other hand, has been pigging out since yesterday, and I think she might be on her 3rd cricket this week.  She is fascinating to watch, and is quite lively!

SLINGS*

Serj is taking on an ENORMOUS feeder roach right now.  This is her 2nd in the last 24 hours.   She is very active, and I enjoy watching her continually dig in her burrow.

Tank (AKA- Darwin as she has been dubbed) has also been actively burrowing, but I am noticing that the black spot on her abdomen is getting rather dull in color.  This may explain the lack of feeding, as these are both signs of an upcoming molt.  Her burrow is about 2 times as deep as Serj’s, and appears to be molded inward towards the center of the jar, making her difficult to see at times.  It looks like she is making various chambers.

Isis is looking a lot larger than she did a week ago.  I don’t know if it has to do with the added visibility of her jar (compared to her deli cup) but she too looks dull like Tank.  The difference is that she seems to eat readily, and has had at least 2 roaches that I am aware of in the last week.

Jars and Societies

I have just relocated the slings again.  This time, to sturdy jars.  The deli cups seemed a bit flimsy when compared to the weight of my cat, Frank.  Over the past couple of days he has taken a real interest in the desk where all of my tarantulas sit, and I didn’t want to take the chance that he would jump on top of them while I was at work.  He did that to a few crickets a couple of weeks ago (squishing 2), but luckily I was home to save the rest.

The jars are made of glass, and the lids are made with thick clear plastic that I was able to make air holes in with a drill.  I added a film cartridge to each jar (another fine use for this item), and 3 different levels of coconut substrate to suit each sling. Now, they are safe, easier to feed, and easier to peek in on.  They seem to really like their film holders!!

My older T’s have sturdy lids on their tanks, and Nata is also covered with a book on spiders (fitting, right?)

I will attempt another feeding tomorrow, as Tank has definitely not eaten yet.

In other news, I am now officially a member of the American Tarantula Society!!  I am stoked to be getting their magazine, and am waiting confirmation so I can post to their forums.  Happiness!!

Day 3: Picture Day!!

Well, if my camera worked the way it’s supposed to (Cannon AE-1) I will have some awesome shots of each sling, along with my older tarantulas.

The flashlight that I was using to light the deli cups seemed to really annoy the little ones (which I expected) so I had to get as many photos as I could, VERY quickly.

Sadly, when I went to photograph my Madagascars, I discovered that my male was deceased-and he stank to high hell!!  Like rotting meat.  Odd for an insect…not sure if that is normal for this kind….

I did at least manage to get some decent macros of the deceased, and the living hisser.  I am pretty bummed about this though….

Sid was clinging to the side of (her) tank, so I did get some good shots of the iridescent  coloring on her legs, as well as a few macros of her fangs.  Nata, on the other hand preferred to stay camera shy.  She remained huddled in the back of her Dibs container-turned burrow.  I did get some pics of her back there, just nothing exciting.

Hopefully I will have the roll developed this week.  I am praying to the Canon 35mm gods that the camera worked.

We shall see……

Sid and Nata

Siddhartha and Nataraja are the first tarantulas that I have ever owned.   Each resides in their own aquarium, as A. avacularias and G. Rosea should never live under the same roof- so to speak.  I have only been in the hobby for about a year now, and with that comes my experience as a new keeper.

I love my tarantulas, and even though the idea of keeping one was strictly for photography, I have grown to love and treasure my “newbie” collection.

Today, Sid and Nata officially became the cornerstones of an expanding family in this household, as 3 spiderlings (and a couple of cockroaches) are now a fixture here.

These are my trials, thoughts and successes as a new keeper, and if Sid and Nata can bare with me, eventually they will make it to town. At that time, their tolerance of my clumsiness and ignorance will pay off in the gratitude and education of many. (GULP!)

Siddhartha II